PBA Pro Bowling 2026 — Patch 2.0

Released: 2/6/2026, 6:34:54 PM

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3127230/view/506226983746667109

Summary (AI)

Patch 2.0 for PBA Pro Bowling 2026 introduces new gameplay settings allowing players greater control, including a new "Pin Action" simulation mode with more realistic pin physics, which is mandatory for online play. The update adds the 2025 USBC Masters and 2025 U.S. Open (#4) oil patterns, along with "Full Oil" and "No Oil" options excluded from random selection. Bowling logic for several pros, including Pete Weber and Parker Bohn III, has been adjusted for more accurate styles, and new cosmetic items like hair, gloves, and clothing have been added. Quality-of-life improvements include a backup save system, enhanced texture streaming, improved menu performance, daily objective updates, and multiple bug fixes across gameplay and UI.

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New gameplay settings for more player control
General quality-of-life improvements to make the game even more fun for all players
Added "2025 USBC Masters", "2025 U.S. Open (#4)", "Full Oil", and "No Oil" oil patterns.The "Full Oil" and "No Oil" patterns are not in the pool for random selection (for Oil Pattern Roulette or when selecting random pattern).
The "Full Oil" and "No Oil" patterns are not in the pool for random selection (for Oil Pattern Roulette or when selecting random pattern).
Adjusted the tuning of pin action to be more realistic. Pin bounciness has been reduced to prevent unrealistically bouncy pins, but kickplate action has been increased to make for more realistic messenger pins.A new "Pin Action" setting has been added to the Gameplay Settings. "Simulation" (default) is the new tuning; "Arcade" is the old tuning for those that enjoyed the extra bounciness on the pins. Note that online play will always use "Simulation" pin action.
A new "Pin Action" setting has been added to the Gameplay Settings. "Simulation" (default) is the new tuning; "Arcade" is the old tuning for those that enjoyed the extra bounciness on the pins. Note that online play will always use "Simulation" pin action.
Adjusted the bowling logic of Pete Weber, Andrew Anderson, and François Lavoie to more closely match their real bowling styles. Also improved Pete Weber's shot animations to more closely match his style.
Made further adjustments to "Simulation" pin action; in particular, single pins hit by the ball should now bounce off the ball less dramatically.
Adjusted the bowling logic Parker Bohn III uses to more closely match his real bowling style.
Added the option to swap to "Gradual" oil pattern breakdown in gameplay settings."Normal" oil pattern breakdown will always be used for online play.
"Normal" oil pattern breakdown will always be used for online play.
Added a confirmation popup to brand sponsor select to avoid accidental selection.
Changed the U.S. Open event to use the new "2025 U.S. Open (#4)" oil pattern.
Changed the USBC Masters event to use the new "2025 USBC Masters" oil pattern.
Added the ability to delete an existing career save from the "Load Career" UI.
Added several new hair/beard styles.
Added bowling gloves and bowling tape as accessory options.One color option for each is unlocked by default; others are available for purchase throughout the career.
One color option for each is unlocked by default; others are available for purchase throughout the career.
Added "Blue and White Hoodie" (Tier 6), "Black Relaxed Jeans" (Tier 8), and "Boat Shoes" (Tier 7)
Developer's Note: We want to make sure that Hall-of-Fame is a real challenge for even the game's best players, but we agree with feedback that the increased difficulty from the release mechanics was more of a frustrating difficulty than a fun difficulty. With these changes, Hall-of-Fame should still be very challenging due to the increased skill of your opponents but without the frustrating difficulty from touchy release mechanics.
Improved texture streaming to avoid blurry textures when they are first loaded in (especially pro and custom bowler clothing, ball textures, and venue logos).
Added a backup save system to avoid save files getting corrupted by the game getting force-closed during an auto-save.Unfortunately, if your save file has already been corrupted this fix may be unable to recover your saved data, but if your game was consistently crashing due to a corrupted save it should now be fixed.
Unfortunately, if your save file has already been corrupted this fix may be unable to recover your saved data, but if your game was consistently crashing due to a corrupted save it should now be fixed.
All Daily Objectives will get refreshed each new day (previously only empty slots were filled by new objectives).
Improved the quality of rewards for the first set of Daily Objectives that a player gets.
Simulated Stepladder matches will now properly simulate a winner rather than always having the higher seed win, and the scores for previous matches are now visible in the stepladder UI.
Made several changes to improve menu performance throughout the game. In particular, the event map, ball shop, and ball collection menus should all be much less laggy.
Improved pinfall detection logic to prevent situations where a pin was about to fall over as the game cuts away but ends up not getting counted as down.
Added a new gameplay options setting to hide the strike track.
Added various help tips to the loading screen.
(PC Only) Added an option to cap FPS to 90. This is now the default (default previously was uncapped).
Fixed a bug where the "Hall-of-Fame unlocked" popup would show even if you were already on Hall-of-Fame difficulty.
Fixed a typo in the PBA Qualifier unlocked narrative ("Beome" -> "Become").
Fixed a typo in the ball collection display ("ReactiveResin" -> "Reactive Resin").
Fixed a bug where the "win spare pickup challenge events" daily objective would not complete if the event was won in a tiebreaker.
Fixed a bug where the commentators would use lines for other pros when bowling against Packy Hanrahan.
(Steam Only) Fixed a bug where the game settings would not properly get synchronized for cloud settings.
The amateur Hannah Stewart has moved and her hometown is no longer "29". We hope you enjoy the new town, Hannah!
Fixed a bug where all AI opponents in the Tier 1 Sweepers Night event would always bowl 180 on Hall-of-Fame difficulty.
Fixed a typo on the Southern region regional map ("Colmbia" -> "Columbia").
Fixed several Roto Grip balls that were incorrectly categorized as under the Storm brand.
Fixed a bug where Bill O'Neill would occasionally go invisible. InivisiBill is no more!
(Candlepin/Duckpin Only) fixed some invisible lane geometry that could cause the ball to fly off unexpectedly.
Fixed a bug where the Motiv Primal Rage had extra finger holes.
Fixed several reaction animations where the bowler would clip through the floor.
(Keyboard only) Fixed a bug where navigating the ball shop tiers with the keyboard would also focus a ball.